Keener Than Blades
Keener Than Blades is the title of the fourth chapter of Chakra, Battle of the Titans. This chapter is speculated to be 103 pages long, and Motyl , Kobura , Tiikeri , Omen and Charon appear on the cover. Synopsis The chapter begins with the voice repeating the words of the prophecy as Hielo drags C.Y. out of the bottom of the sea. When she-wolf opens her eyes she sees Led standing above her reassuring her she’s safe now. After Led helps C.Y. to get up she informs her friends that they’re in danger and she explains it by quoting the prophecy he had heard. But when she mentions she, while being underwater, saw a demon Hielo criticize her saying it can’t be true as he’s been there as well and he haven’t seen anything of what C.Y. described. Led right away scorns him for his remark and the two start to snap at each other, but their argument is quickly stopped by C.Y. who wants to continue her story. She says that the God will come on the Celesiat Year to slay the Best which makes Motyl wonder if Celestial Year is the current year. Cheetah also speculates that the ‘God’ might be Shiranui to which C.Y. definitely agrees saying that also might be the reason why she sees him all the time. As the conversation continues the Heroes come to a conclusion that it might be tied to Inabe’s prophecy of Demon-being who wants to obtain the Sword. But they eventually loose the threat as C.Y. notices Orca’s been healed and expresses her happiness to see her again in good shape. The black and white wolf leaves all the compliments for Motyl who healed her. Motyl blushes in modesty, saying that she did it with pleasure. She is then unexpectedly tackled by Kobura who is quickly seized by Orca and brought down to the ground. As he is questioned for his motivation the young wolf reveals that he left the Zodiac Demons because he fell in love with Motyl. Hearing that Hielo roars at Kobura stating his disbelief, but Cheetah tries to calms him down by saying the kid must be just joking. C.Y notices that Kobura is missing the mark on his hip, which makes her assume that the young wolf really did left the Demon, and as a sign of his new loyalty she asks Kobura to show them the way to Jackal’s hideout. The green wolf eagerly agrees, though Hielo is still greatly suspicious. Motyl steps between him and Kobura to break the fight, but Hielo snaps at the winger she-wolf and insults her by calling her too trusting and gullible. Having enough of the whole situation Hielo leaves and Kuma runs after his friend while the rest of the Heroes take Kobura to their Headquarters. Kuma finds Hielo at Flama’s grave and the two briefly ponder over the past. At the Headquarters C.Y. begins explaining how the Chakra Heroes joined their forces to fight evil. She tells how she met up with Led and how they set out to find other wolves with unique powers. The first one the met was Orca, who at the time was living with her brother Wasgo. Initially the siblings attempted to attack the intruders, but upon clashing with C.Y., Orca recognized her decided to join the group. On the way she and Led fought for leadership which led them to discovering their special powers. The journey led them to Cheetah and his siblings, though at that time the Heroes deemed Cheetah too young to join them, thus they picked Serval, leaving Cheetah with his sick sister Puma. Next, they encountered a group of wolves who attacked Motyl and her family. After chasing away the aggressors Ważka was revealed to be fatally wounded, but Motyl’s newly discovered powers healed him. C.Y. then explained her the Heroes’ purpose and Motyl decided to join them, despite her brother’s objection. The next Hero they recruited was Hielo. They found him beaten up as his sister Flama was taking care of him. She explained that Hielo’s condition was caused by an attack of a pack mate, Rufus, who wanted to become the leader and cha llenged Hielo. Motyl then healed Hielo’s wounds and after a night of thinking the pale wolf decided to join the Heroes along with his sister Flmama. Finally, they found Kuma, who was also fatally injured by a bear. Motyl healed him, though she was not sure if he’ll make it through the night, but Hielo kept vigil by Kuma’s side and by the morning the wolf recovered. The group of six wolves travelled through the land until they encountered an enormous pack of wolves who charged at them. Serval fled in panic and was never heard of again, while Flama was unfortunate and was stomped to death by the wild pack. In that moment Cheetah, whose powers appeared after Puma’s death, appeared and aided the Heroes in their escape. After C.Y. finished telling the story Kuma and Hielo join the group. Kobura reveals that Ryu is his brother and he was a totally different person before he met Jackal. The topic of the conversation goes back to the Destiny Sword and young wolf explains that Konohana Island is, in fact, a giant maze and the Heroes will need his guidance to find the secret hideout. However, on the next day, Kobura is asked to stay behind and guard the den while the Heroes set out to visit Konohana Island for the second time. Meanwhile, on the Island Jackal is having a meeting with his Demons as he is displeased with their performance when they fought the Heroes. He notices Kobura is missing and he sends his guards: Oman and Charon to look for the pup. The two wolves, as they are leaving the caverns, discuss the possibility of becoming Zodiac Demons in the light of Ryu’s failure and Kobura’s dissapearance. Jackal continues to question the Demons to find out Kobura’s location. Ketek points out that he’s seen Kobure when they were fighting the Heroes, but lost sight of him when the haze appeared. Then Mishka wants everyone to pay attention because he claims that Zec wants to say something, but even though all eyes were turned to the white wolf not a word could be heard, but despite that Mishka burst out in laughter. Then, Jackal turns his eyes to Tiikeri and starts questioning her about Kobura until she breaks and reveals that Kobura left to join the Heroes. Angered, Jackal slaps Tiikeri, leaving a scar on her face, and sets her to bring the traitor back. Also, to Ryu’s displeasure, he orders him to follow Kozel from now on and warns him that his position as the Head General is endangered if he continues to fail. Tiikeri leaves the island in the dusk and her marking is seen fading away. Oniken informs Jackal that they are ‘one short’. At the same time as Tiikeri is swimming away, the Heroes arrive at the island. She reaches the other shore and finds Kobura. Initially the green wolf is reluctant to speak with his friend, but upon seeing the scar in Tiikeri’s cheek he’s convinced of her good intentions. Tiikeri warns Kobura that Jackal has prepared a trap for the Heroes. On the island the Heroes divide themselves into two groups. As they walk around C.Y. notices a bright light in the shape of Shiranui, which she immediately follows without a second thought. It leads her to a giant cherry tree. Kuma catches up to the grey wolf and seeing as she is amazed by the sight of the falling petals, he explains that cherry tree is his favourite plant. The peaceful moment is interrupted when Led arrives at the scene. He intimidates Kuma to make him go away and C.Y. demands an explanation to Led’s sudden cold behaviour, but the wolf is too stuck up to reveal his feeling and he walks away. Meanwhile the other part of the group, Hielo, Orca, Motyl and Cheetah discover a giant stone door. With some minor issues Hielo discovers how to open then. Inside, they find the Destiny Sword displayed out in the open. Cheetah wants to go and snatch it, but Hielo warns him of this being just a trap. Suddenly, the walls of the cave collapse revealing Demons hidden behind it. In another location Led smells the dust and informs his friends of this just as Mishka unexpectedly appears in front of them. C.Y. launches at him and the other two follow her in her chase. Mishka lures the three Heroes into a trap where they are surrounded by the Demons and join their already-captured friends. But before the Heroes can act Tiikeri appears on the scene with Kobura. She asks for Jackal’s forgiveness and the leader is willing to give her a second chance as long as she fulfils one condition. But the said condition is not revealed as Ushi notices that Tiikeri’s marking is missing and calls her out on that. The she-wolf attacks him which sets Hielo free and the battle starts. Ketek jumps at Kobura in fury and bashes Kobura for betraying the Demons. The little wolf is saved by Motyl who blows Ketek away. C.Y. notices Jackal silently leaving with the Sword and she attempts to pursue him, but Oniken stands in her way. The Demon challenges the heroine, but she refuses stating that his body is too feeble and it wouldn’t be fair. Oniken then assaults C.Y. and taunts her to unleash Anja, which she does. He attempts to leech her power off again, but the deity pushed him away and continues her charge. To this, Ryu jumps to stop her, but is thrown back instantly. But Oniken still manages to reach Ajna’s energy spheres and by the time the she-wolf catches Jackal she has turned into C.Y. once again. Jaskal manages to push back the grey wolf as she’s worn out and attempts to use this moment of weakness to steal her Charka. But before the blade can reach C.Y. Kuma throws himself at Jackal and in the hectic fight to retrieve the Sword the big wolf gets pierced by the blade and strange light emanates from the wound. Seeing this, unleashes Hielo’s rage and he manages to free himself from Ushi and charges at Jackal while his body is getting covered in ice. The Demons give the order to retreat and run towards their leader who’s struggling to get the Sword out of Kuma’s body. Suddenly Haan trips over and in terror looks back at the approaching Chakra Hero who at this point fully transformed into ice-maned beast. Before Hielo can reach the unfortunate Demon Led uses his powers to create a wall between then, stopping his friend from harming Haan, who with this opportunity slips away to run after his comrades. Led remind Hielo of the time he had given him counsel and wants to return the favour by stopping his friend from making a mistake. Hielo calms down, the ice melts off his coat, but he’s still heart-broken over Kuma’s death. Everyone is astonished when Motyl claims Kuma is still alive. She explains that he was able to survive thanks to his Chakra Manipura, but to save Kuma’s soul his chakra was taken instead. Led gives orders to take Kuma back to Headquaters. He glances back at lying C.Y.’s who gives him weak look before she fall unconscious. As the Heroes leave Mishka is seen still lurking around the corner, spying. He rins back to Jackal to inform him that the Heroes are leaving and that they took the Sword with them, to which Jackal becomes furious. The leader of the Demons orders Oniken to, along with other Demons, follow the heroes to retrieve the Sword. Ryu questions why Oniken is put in charge and Jackal remind him that he had one last chance to prove himself and by failing he also lost the place as the General to Oniken. Jackal continues by noting that they became less in numbers, so he decided to promote Omen and Charon as new Zodiac Demons. Covered in darkness Kuma is twisting in pain, screaming for help. Black smoke coming from the wound he was given by the Sword. C.Y. appears at the scene, but she’s helpless to ain her friend. The smoke brings her attention towards the dark creature that launches at her hourglass and reminds her that the time is up. C.Y. wakes up in the Headquarters with Hielo watching over her through the night. He gets a little uneasy and is at loss for words from their last argument. At her request Led explains to her what happened to Kuma and that his Chakra is gone. Led notes that they are in grave danger since the Demons will be aiming to get the Sword back and that they should change their location. He expresses distrust towards Kobura and Tiikeri, which enrages C.Y. When she demsnds to know where the others are it turns out they are waiting right outside the entrance to the cave. Hielo holding the Destiny Sword. C.Y. thanks Tiikeri for saving them and the orange wolf gladly replies that she’s glad to be a part of the team, but Orca menacingly correct her by saying they still did not earn the place completely. Hielo agrees with Led and suggest heading out in the morning. The further discussion is interrupted by Kuma’s appearance along with Motyl. Everyone rejoices seeing their friend in good health, but when Kuma in jest says he needs to settle the score with the Demons Hielo mournfully tells him the news of his Chakra being gone. Kuma only laughs and claims that Manipura vanished only for a moment and he’s going to prove it to them. He asks for the Sword, but then Hielo notices black smear around the place Kuma’s wound, but the huge Hero makes some excuse and is not bothered by it. He proceeds to demonstrate his power by turning the sword into bright light and ‘inhaling’ it, storing the weapon in his stomach. Everyone is very impressed and happy to see Kuma still has his powers. With that cleared, Led brings the topic of looking for a new hideout. Shyly, Tiikeri reveals that the Demons are weak towards the daylight, so they should put watch over night and travel by day. Getting the pits of conversation, Mishka is seen running through the night back to the other Demons to give them the information he learned. Oniken is glad to hear it and points out that it will be a nice test for two new recruits, Charon and Omen, who are revealed to have tattoos and changes in appearance to match the animal they were ascribed. On the next day Orca and Tiikeri share a conversation about the recent event. Orca expresses her gratitude towards the former demon, but also points out that she does not fully trust them yet. Suddenly, they notice Omen slouching over the cave blending with the environment. When Orca tries to shout out to her friends she’s attacked by Kozel. The Heroes are surpised to see the Demons attacking during the day as Tiikeri claimed they fear the sun. Hielo growls Tiikeri set this all up as he looks towards Ushi and Oniken. Oniken’s body is covered in purple smoke, which presumably makes the sun hide behind the clouds. Tiikeri tackles Kozel to save Orca and shouts back that she’s innocent, just before she herself is ambushed by Charon. Kobura faces Ketek and the Demon seems to be ready to fight his former friend, but before he can do anything Cheetah jumps at him. Moments after a dark shadow appears hovering over cowering Kobura and little wolf turned his head to see Omen ominously spreading his cobra ‘hood’ over him. This time the enemy is taken by Kuma and as the two huge wolves clash Kobura is able to slip away. In the scuffle Kuma is bitten by Omen. Seeing his friend in peril, Motyl attempts to help him. The venom takes toll on Kuma and his vision becomes blurry and more horrific with every moment, shapes blur into dark monsters that laugh at him. Kuma tries to defend himself, but is terrified to find that his fire is gone. Frightened out of him mind, Kuma launches himself at the laughing shapes, but his friends call him back to reality just so he can realize that he accidentally attacked Motyl. As Motyl lies unconscious her Chakra seems to leave her body with a gust of wind that clears the sky and sends the Demons running for cover. On the next day Orca gives her prognosis on Motyl being still alive. Led points out that her wings lost their colour, which Orca ascribes to the Chakra automatically healing Motyl’s injuries. As others leave Hielo stays to keep vigil. Glad to hear the news C.Y. goes to Kuma to say Motyl is alright, but despite her attempts at cheering her friend up, Kuma still blames himself for the incident. C.Y. is shocked to discover that Kuma’s rear has been strangely darkened out, but the world shoves away any concern for it and asks to be left alone as he needs to think. During the night Kuma, judging he’s too dangerous to be around his friends, decides to leave them. In other languages Errors *On page 148, we see pawprints in the sand. In the following page, the pawprints disappear, only to reappear on the page right after, page 150. However, they disappear again on page 151, and reappear once more on page 152. *In panel 9 of page 153, Cheetah's black tuft is not shaded. *Hielo's entire body is out of proportion on page 156, panel 2. *On page 160 panel 1, part of Flama's left front leg is outlined in a darker black than the rest of the page. This is due to an error with the bucket tool during the editing in Adobe Photoshop CS4. *On page 162 panel 5, the lighting on Led is opposite than the one in the rest of the page. **In panel 3 of the same page, C.Y.'s left ear marking is not outlined like the rest of her body. Trivia *One of the beta names for this chapter was Kill Or Get Killed. No Italian beta name exists, because there are no words in Italian that begin by letter K. Same goes for Chapter Two. *''Keener Than Blades'' is the longest chapter of Chakra. *This chapter marks the first time in which page numbers are added at the bottom of each page. *This chapter also marks the first time in which the base tint technique is used in order to shade. Read more